LEB JER Chapter 3

Yahweh Gives Israel a Letter of Divorce

6 Then Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah, the king, “Have you seen what apostate[fn] Israel has done? She has gone on every high hill and under every leafy tree and she has prostitutedherself there. 7 And I thought, ‘After her doing all these things to me she will return,’ but she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.[fn] 8 And I saw that for this very reason, that[fn] on account of apostate[fn] Israel committing adultery I divorced her and gave the letter of divorce to her. Yet her treacherous sister Judah was not afraid and she went and prostitutedherself also. 9 And it was because of the frivolity of her fornication that she defiled the land and committed adultery with the stone and with the tree. 10 Yet even in all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only[fn] in pretense,”[fn]declares[fn] Yahweh.

A Call for Repentance

11 Then Yahweh said to me, “Apostate[fn] Israel has proved herself more upright[fn] than treacherous Judah.

• 12 Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say,‘Return, apostate[fn] Israel,’[fn] Yahweh.
• ‘I will not cause my[fn] to fall on you.
• For I am loyal,’[fn] Yahweh.
• ‘I will not be angry[fn]
• 13  that against Yahweh your God you have rebelled,
• and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every leafy tree,
• and you have not obeyed my voice,’[fn] Yahweh.”

14 “Return, apostate[fn] children,”declares[fn] Yahweh. “ForI am your master,[fn] and I will take you one from a city and two from a clan,[fn] and I will bring youto Zion. 15 Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart and they will feed you knowledge and insight. 16 And it will be when you have multiplied and become fruitful in the land in those days,” declares[fn] Yahweh, “they will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of Yahweh.’ Andit will not come to mind,[fn] nor will they remember it, nor will they missit,[fn] nor will it be made again. 17 At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The Throne of Yahweh,’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to the name of Yahweh, to Jerusalem, and they will no longer go after the stubbornness of their evil heart. 18 In those days the house of Judah will walk along with the house of Israel and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave as an inheritance to your ancestors.[fn]

• 19 and I would give you a land of desire,
• an inheritance of the glory of the hosts of nations.’
• And I thought, ‘You would call me, “My father,”
  • and you would not turn back from[fn] me.’
  • 20  so you have dealt treacherously with me,
• O house of Israel,”[fn] Yahweh.
  • 21 is heard on the barren heights, the weeping of the pleas for mercy of the children of Israel,
• because they have perverted their way,
  • they have forgotten Yahweh their God.
  • 22 O apostate[fn] children,I will heal your backsliding.
• ‘Look, we come to you,
  • for you are Yahweh our God.
  • 23 comes from the hills, the turmoil on the mountains.
• Surely, in Yahweh our God
  • is the salvation of Israel.
  • 24  the labor of our ancestors[fn] from our youth,
• their flocks, and their cattle,
  • their sons and their daughters.
  • 25  and let our disgrace cover us.
• For against Yahweh our God we have sinned,
  • we and our ancestors,[fn]
• from our youth and until this day.
  • and we have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh our God.’